


Scars

by SpencerRemyLvr



Series: A Collection of Ideas [16]
Category: Criminal Minds, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, F/M, M/M, Mutants, Original Character(s), Spencer is a mutant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:16:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3840208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpencerRemyLvr/pseuds/SpencerRemyLvr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>prompt fic. The prompt I was given was this line "The mutant we were trying to stop goes by the name Catalyst. She…her mutation allows her to touch a person and transform them back to a certain age in their lives; a time that was emotionally unstable for them and a time that they haven’t made some kind of peace with. "</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scars

Everything hurt. That was all Spencer could think of as he woke up. Every inch of his body _hurt_. Grimacing, he put his hands down on the ground, pressing his palms flat. _Damn, it must’ve been a rough night_ he thought to himself. Worst part of it was, he couldn’t seem to remember what had happened. With a groan, he opened his eyes. That was when several things suddenly became apparent. One, he wasn’t in his room, though that wasn’t too unusual. Two, he was outside. Again, not too unusual. Three, and this was extremely worrisome, he sure as hell wasn’t somewhere familiar.

That was when he became aware of the others around him. Screeching cars and adults rushing all around and, right there at his side, two young kids looking beyond terrified. One looked about five while the other looked somewhere around three, maybe four. Both were shaking, their eyes wide with fear, and the young one was crying. There was blood on them, and bruises. That was enough to have Spencer moving, despite how much it hurt his body to do so. If there were hurt kids here, he wasn’t going to just leave them sitting there, especially not in the midst of all this chaos. He dragged himself over to the kids. “Shh, shh. Hey now, everything’s gonna be okay, guys.” His voice was a little hoarse and he tried to clear it away.

There was movement nearby and Spencer reacted instinctively. Whatever was going on here, he had no idea, but the hell if he’d let whoever hurt these kids come and hurt them again. It didn’t really register in his mind that whoever had hurt them might’ve hurt him too. That wasn’t important. The children were what were important. Spencer flung himself across the last little bit of distance, placing his body between the kids and whoever was coming. He lifted his hand in preparation to fight, gathering the energy inside of himself. Whoever thought to hurt them was in for a nasty little surprise.

Shock snapped through him when he saw the figures in front of him stop. His eyes snapped over each person, trying to make sense of what he saw. They were in vests with the letters FBI emblazoned on them. FBI? These were _Feds_? What on earth were Federal Agents doing here? How the hell had he gotten involved in a situation with _Federal Agents_?

One of them, a dark skinned buff guy, took a step forward, his mouth dropping open. “Reid?” His voice was deep and shocked. “Is that you, pretty boy?”

How the hell did this guy know his name? That question snapped through Spencer's mind first. Right after it followed the thought that this strange guy, who _knew his name,_ had called him ‘pretty boy’. That gave him a small shiver of worry and had him tensing. Maybe for now it was better to stay in his protective stance. He felt the kids shift closer to him, clinging to their obvious protector. Spencer kept his weight propped up on one hand, his other still lifted threateningly. Better to act cocky then show them that he was afraid. He made his voice as hard as he could and snapped “Who are you? And how the hell do you know my name?” _Don’t be weak. They can use weakness. Be strong, for the kids. Keep them safe._

One of the women with them, a pretty lady with blond hair, made a soft gasping sound and put her hand over her mouth. The two older men exchanged looks. But the dark haired pretty lady took a step toward him. “You don’t recognize us?” she asked him carefully.

Okay, this was seriously starting to creep him out. Why would he recognize them? What was going on here? Spencer's shifted back just a little more in an unconscious effort to put some distance between them.  “No.” He said firmly. “Now, someone tell me what the fuck is going on here, or I swear, I’ll blast my way out of here.”

The guy with the facial hair and grey at his temples made a snorting sound, looking over to the guy with the hawk-like expression on his face. “Who would’ve guessed the kiddo had such a foul mouth on him?”

The darker skinned one shook his head. “We don’t have time for this. Listen, Reid, you know us. Trust me, you do. But some shit went down here today. Now, we need to get you and those two kids behind you out of here before some bigger shit goes down. There’s bigger assholes than us coming and trust me, the last thing we need is for them to get their hands on you.” The guy held his hands out on either side to appear as non-threatening as possible. “I know you don’t recognize me right now, but I need you to trust me. Use your telepathy, kid. Look at my head for a quick second and see that you can trust me. But we’ve got to go, _now_.”

Things just got even creepier. The guy knew he was a mutant. Spencer scowled, but he didn’t hesitate to do what the man said. A quick scan of his mind showed that he had no evil intent toward any of them. If anything, he wanted to protect them. There was so much more there that Spencer was tempted to look at, things that didn’t make sense, but he didn’t have permission to look there and this guy wasn’t a threat. Spencer couldn’t— _wouldn’t_ —forcefully read the mind of someone that wasn’t a threat. Pulling back out, he made the only decision he could and nodded at the guy. “Fine. But anyone tries anything funny and you’ll regret it—that’s a promise.”

“Deal, kid.”

The guy—Spencer had seen his name was Derek Morgan in his mind—came over and held a hand out to him to help him up. After only a moment’s hesitation, Spencer took it, pulling his aching body upwards. The younger of the two kids clung to Spencer while the other one stuck close. Spencer picked up the younger, a dark haired little boy, and pulled him up into his arms. That seemed to settle the kid some. “Let’s go. And whenever we get where we’re going, you all owe me an explanation.”

Derek nodded at him. “Fine. But we’ve got to move, now. Hotch?”

The hawk guy—Hotch, apparently—nodded. “We’ll go to my place.”

And so Spencer found himself being rushed over to an SUV and put in the back with the two kids. Then Derek was in the driver’s seat with the dark haired lady and they were being sped away. Spencer took advantage of the ride to take inventory of himself. The rest he would think on when they arrived; for now, he needed to know how badly he was hurt so he could plan how well he would be able to protect the children and himself. His right ankle felt twisted, but not broken. A careful shifting told him some ribs were probably bruised, or maybe even cracked. Nothing new. A bruise on his clavicle, left side. Random bruising and scratches. The right side of his face felt like a giant bruise. All in all, minor injuries. Nothing that would keep him from keeping them safe.

Then he turned his attention to the kids. Instead of speaking out loud and alerting the others in the car, he turned his attention to the older one, the sandy haired boy. _//Hey there, kiddo//_ Almost instantly he felt the kid’s panic and rushed to soothe it. _//Shh, shh, it’s just me//_ He reached out with his hand to touch the kid’s leg, trying to reassure him. Wide eyes snapped up to him and Spencer smiled and nodded. _//Yeah, me. I’m kind of special and I can talk to you in your head like this. All you have to do is think something back at me and I’ll know it. How cool is that, huh?//_

For a second he got nothing from the kid. Then, a little smile, and he scooted a little closer. _//That’s cool//_ came the hesitant thought.

Spencer wrapped his arm around the boy, who snuggled in further. _//My name’s Spencer. What’s your name?//_

_//Brian. Brian Elkins. I’m five years old//_

That had Spencer smiling. There was such pride in that. _//Well, nice to meet you, Brian! Can you tell me, honey, are you hurt anywhere?//_

The little boy seemed to think about it. He lifted his arm, showing a scratch there. Spencer smoothed his thumb over the scratch. _//Aww, I’m sorry. But you’re being such a big boy! I haven’t even seen you cry about it at all!//_

Their mental conversation got cut short when they pulled up at a house. Brian and the other boy cuddled in close while the car parked. Spencer unhooked them and, picking the dark haired one up, he scooted out of the car before helping Brian down. Brian clung to his hand tightly as they were led into the house. Everyone else came in with them.

The guy called Hotch looked over to Spencer once the door was shut. “My son’s not home, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if the boys went and played with his things for a while.” He suggested. Unspoken was the message that it might be better for them to play in there while the adults talked. Spencer hesitated for a moment. It went against everything in him to just trust strangers. But when he’d been in Derek’s mind, there had been something there, something that had left him feeling like this was a person he _could_ trust. Spencer made a split second decision and squatted down by Brian. He set the other boy down beside him and looked at the two boys. “This guy here has a room full of toys for little boys to play with. Why don’t you two go on in there and play a little while and I’ll talk to these guys out here, hm?”

With the innate trust of children to adults, the kids nodded at him. Brian, however, seemed a tiny bit hesitant, unsure of all these people he didn’t know. “Are my mommy and daddy coming soon?” he asked Spencer.

Smiling, he flicked his finger down Brian’s nose, hiding his own inner ache. “I’ll be sure to find out, honey. Now, go on and follow that man and go play for a while. You need me, you just think my name real loud and I’ll hear you.” Spencer lifted his finger and tapped it to his temple, winking at the kid. That was enough to have the kid grinning. Brian took the other boy’s hand and led him off, following Hotch. The minute they were out of sight up the stairs, Spencer rose and turned a suddenly hard glare to the others. His stance was cocky and aggressive despite how much it hurt him to do so. “Now, I think it’s time for an explanation. What the hell is going on here?”


End file.
